Abstract Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of liver malignancy with high incidence and poor prognosis. Transmembrane protein 147 (TMEM147) has been implicated in the development of colon cancer. However, the role of TMEM147 in HCC remains unclear. In this study, data of 371 HCC tissues, 50 adjacent nontumor tissues, and 110 normal liver tissues were retrieved from the TCGA and GTEx databases. TMEM147 expression was found to be increased in HCC tissues. High expression of TMEM147 was related to poor prognosis, and TMEM147 was confirmed to be an independent prognostic factor for HCC patients. A receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis was performed and showed that the diagnostic efficacy of TMEM147 was significantly higher than that of AFP (0.908 versus 0.746, p < 0.001). Furthermore, TMEM147 promoted tumor immune infiltration, and macrophages were the immune cells that predominantly expressed TMEM147 in HCC. Further analysis revealed that TMEM147 mainly impacted the ribosome pathway, and CTCF, MLLT1, TGIF2, ZNF146, and ZNF580 were predicted to be the upstream transcription factors for TMEM147 in HCC. These results suggest that TMEM147 serves as a promising biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis and may potentially become a therapeutic target for HCC.

Abstract C. ternatea is often used as a natural food colouring besides improving the aesthetic value of foods. It contains various antioxidants and bioactive compounds, which exert many functions, such as counteracting oxidative stress, anti-proliferative and anti-inflammatory activities. This study evaluated the antioxidant activity of C. ternatea flower extract and its protective effect on bisphenol A (BPA)-induced oxidative injury in female murine reproductive system. DPPH free radical scavenging activity (EC50 12.47 ± 2.96 mg/mL) and total phenolic content (4.59 ± 0.09 mg GAE/g) of C. ternatea flower extract were determined. Then, Institute Cancer Research (ICR) dams were administered with BPA and/or C. ternatea extract for six weeks to study on uterine histomorphology, percentage of pregnancy and offspring development. It was found that the uterus weight to body weight ratio from dam co-administered with BPA and C. ternatea was lower than dam treated with BPA alone, although no histopathological effect was found. However, the percentage of pregnancy and litter size from C. ternatea-fed group were both higher compared to BPA-fed dam. In conclusion, C. ternatea extract showed high antioxidant activity and exert potential protective effects against BPA on the reproduction performance in terms of improving the percentage of pregnancy and litter size.

Abstract Zinc is one of the most important trace elements and deficiency can lead to significant clinical complications. Microbial transformation is one of the most important methods used to supplement organic zinc and there may be some naturally occurring microorganisms that have both higher zinc tolerances and transformation capabilities. In this study, microorganisms which displayed such characteristics were widely screened, and a strain designated T-A was found. Morphological and molecular determination demonstrated that T-A is closely related to Candida tropicalis with 87% of 18S rDNA homology, with a G+C content measured by RP-HPLC of 88.42%. Candida tropicalis sp. T-A strains were shown to grow and transform zinc best at pH5 in medium with a zinc ion concentration of 8000 μg/mL at 28 °C for 121 hours. Our results showed C. tropicalis sp. T-A’s zinc content was 19.153 mg/g dry weight, with a relative bioavailability in rats of 173% when compared with traditional zinc supplements. Our study suggests that C. tropicalis sp. T-A could be exploited for use as a potential zinc supplement.

Objective: The aim of the study is to examine the distribution of integrated covariate and its association with blood pressure (BP) among children in Anhui province, China, and assess the predictive value of integrated covariate to children hypertension. Methods: A total of 2,828 subjects (1,588 male and 1,240 female) aged 7-17 years participated in this study. Height, weight, waistline, hipline and BP of all subjects were measured, obesity and overweight were defined by an international standard, specifying the measurement, the reference population, and the age and sex specific cut off points. High BP status was defined as systolic blood pressure (SBP) and/or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) > 95th percentile for age and gender. Results: Our results revealed that the prevalence of children hypertension was 11.03%, the SBP and DBP of obesity group were significantly higher than that of normal group. Anthropometric obesity indices such as body mass index (BMI) were positively correlated with SBP and DBP. Integrated covariate had a better performance than the single covariate in the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve, the cut-off value; the sensitivity and the specificity of the integrated covariate were 0.112, 0.577, 0.683, respectively. Conclusion: Integrated covariate is a simple and effective anthropometric index to identify childhood hypertension.

Objetivo: El objetivo del estudio es examinar la distribución de las covariables integrado y su asociación con la presión arterial (PA) entre los niños en la provincia de Anhui, China, y evaluar el valor predictivo de covariables integrado a los niños la hipertensión. Métodos: Un total de 2.828 sujetos (1.588 macho y 1.240 hembra) de 7 a 17 años participaron en este estudio. Altura, peso, cintura, hipline y BP de todos los sujetos fueron medidos, la obesidad y el sobrepeso se han definido por una norma internacional, especificando la medición, la población de referencia, y la edad y sexo los puntos de corte. La condición de alta presión se define como la presión arterial sistólica (PAS) y/o presión arterial diastólica (PAD) > percentil para edad y sexo. Resultados: Nuestros resultados revelan que la prevalencia de niños la hipertensión fue 11,03%, el SBP y DBP de obesidad grupo fueron significativamente más alta que la de grupo normal. Los índices de obesidad, tales como el índice de masa corporal (IMC) se correlacionaron positivamente con SBP y DBP. Integrated covariable tuvo un mejor rendimiento que la covariable en la curva de características operativas del receptor (ROC), el valor de corte, la sensibilidad y la especificidad de las covariables fueron integrados 0,112, 0,577,0,683, respectivamente. Conclusión: Integrado covariable es un simple y eficaz para identificar a la niñez índice antropométrico hipertensión.

Avian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J) is a new type of virus that mainly induces myeloid leukosis (ML) in chickens. To further elucidate the pathogenesis of ALV-J infection and tumor development, expression profiles from the bone marrow tissue of 15 infected and 18 non-infected birds from a local-breed poultry-farm under naturally infected conditions, were analyzed by suppression-subtractive hybridization. The birds were diagnosed as ML+ (or ML-) by specific ALV-J detection methods, involving serological tests for antigens and antibodies, and RT-PCR to detect viral RNA. A total of 59 partial gene sequences were revealed by differential screening of 496 forward and 384 reverse subtracted cDNA clones. Of these, 22 identified genes, including 8 up-regulated and 14 down-regulated, were related to immune functions, these genes being, MHC B-G antigen, translationally-controlled tumor protein (TPT1/TPTC), transferrin and ferritin, hemoglobin and Carbonic anhydrase. Four of the down-regulated genes were selected for further analysis, in view of their predicted roles in infection and immunity by real-time qRT-PCR, using RNA collected from the same birds as those used for SSH. The four genes were expressed at significantly lower levels (p < 0.001) in ALV-J infected birds than in non-infected ones.